


this boy, half destroyed

by mothicalcreatures (laelreenia)



Series: Alex gets shot [1]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men (Original Timeline Movies)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Coping, Darwin Lives, Injury, Injury Recovery, M/M, No Beach Divorce, Pre-Relationship, Team Bonding, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-06
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-29 11:10:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8487088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laelreenia/pseuds/mothicalcreatures
Summary: What would have happened if the bullet Erik deflected on the beach had hit Alex instead of Charles? Scenario One: Alex Lives





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is part one of a two part series. Both fics will follow essentially the same premise of Alex getting hit by the deflected bullet, but with two different end results.

Alex’s head was ringing. He was dizzy and god his ears hurt something awful. He was never flying with Sean again. Hitting his head on the ground when Erik had flung him back hadn’t helped either. He could barely hear _anything_  now, before everything had just sounded incredibly distorted, but now it was like he was in a thick fog, except the fog was blocking out sound instead of clouding out vision. He struggled to his feet, he could see Hank helping Sean up a few feet away and he staggered over to them. Hank’s mouth was open like he was saying something, but Alex couldn’t hear it.

“I can’t hear,” he tried to say, but he wasn’t sure it came out.

Sean grimaced and mouthed what looked like a ‘sorry’.

Alex was about to say something else, when Sean and Hank turned away to look down the beach as if startled by something, and when he turned to look he saw what. Moira had fired a gun at Erik.

Sean grabbed Alex’s sleeve to get his attention, and he said something, though all Alex could make out was a faint, “Raven”. It made slightly more sense when Sean tugged him forward as he and Hank started making their way back towards her.

They were almost there when Alex suddenly staggered back, reeling like he’d just been hit in the chest with a sledgehammer. He glanced down, feeling something warm and wet trickling down his chest where the hole in his suit from the chest plate was. Blood, there was blood. Had he, been shot? He vaguely heard Sean shouting his name before his legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground, his world was enveloped in a searing pain.

 

Hank dropped to his knees next to Alex, trying very hard not to panic, “Alex, Alex stay with us okay, stay with us.”

Alex gave a wet gasp, but there was no indication that he’d heard anything Hank had said.

“He can’t hear you,” Sean’s voice was tight and panicked, “Oh god he can’t hear you.”

“You don’t know that-”

“Yes I do, I fucking- I was screaming in his ears the entire time we were flying, I probably blew out his eardrums.”

Hank swore, not looking up from Alex when Raven dropped down next to him, “What happened? I didn’t see.”

“Erik wasn’t watching where he was flinging those fucking bullets,” Sean snapped.

“How bad is it? Hank can you-”

“His breathing doesn’t sound good, if I had to hazard a guess I’d say his lung’s been punctured.”

“I’ll get Charles,” Raven said, starting to get to her feet.

Sean looked up, “No need, he’s already on his way over.”

Erik was also headed towards them, though he was tailing behind Charles at a considerable distance as if he wasn’t sure he’d be welcome. He damn well wouldn’t be, Sean thought bitterly. This was all his fault.

Erik noticed Sean’s glare and hung back.

 

Charles sunk to the ground by Alex’s head, carefully shifting the injured boy so that his head was resting in Charles’ lap. Alex gave a small whine of pain as he was moved, but there was no other reaction.  “Hank how bad?”

“I- I can’t really tell, I’m not a doctor, but he, he doesn’t sound good and Sean thinks he may have damaged Alex’s eardrums when carrying him.”

“He needs a hospital.”

“Can we get him to one?”

“I don’t-”

“Yes we can,” Raven said, “The teleporter.”

“Raven we can’t trust them,” Charles said.

“Alex is _dying_  Charles, are you really going to turn down the only option we’ve got,” Raven hissed, getting to her feet and heading towards where Angel and the teleporter were standing awkwardly a little ways off.

Charles huffed, but didn’t try to stop Raven, “Hank can you carry him?”

“Charles I’m not going to be able to go into a hospital.”  
“Right, of course, Sean?”

“My arm is broken, you’re going to have to carry him.”

“Erik could-”

“Erik isn’t going anywhere near him, he’s done enough damage,” Sean hissed.

The conversation ended there, because Raven came back with Angel, the teleporter (Azazel), and the other guy (Janos) in tow. “Angel got them to agree to help us.”

“I will take those who need the hospital and come back for the rest of you,” Azazel said, crouching down so that he could gather Alex in his arms.

Charles hesitated, “How can we hold you to your word? You’ve just been trying to kill us.”

“Angel and Janos will stay here,” Azazel said, as he righted himself “The pretty blue girl will come too, she said she can carry Alex into the hospital since I can’t enter.”

“Raven are you sure about this?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I don’t want Alex to die,” she snapped, grabbing Sean’s good hand as Azazel twined his tail around Sean’s leg.

Sean started a bit at that, giving Azazel a wary look, “This isn’t going to hurt is it?”  
“No.” And then they were gone from the beach in a puff of smoke.

 

Alex felt like he was in a cloud of pain. His head ached, his ears hurt, his chest felt like it was on fire, breathing felt like someone twisting a knife in his chest, and he couldn’t quite breath enough either. He could see Hank kneeling next to him and Sean standing over him and Raven was there too, but he still couldn’t hear anything, were they talking to him. He tried to say something, but all that came out was a groan of pain. It felt like he’d been lying there for ages when someone shifted him, they didn’t lift him, he was just shifted, his head lying on what he thought might be someone’s lap, he was in too much pain to try to see who it was though.

Was this it? Was he going to die here? Oh god he was going to die here. The jet was crashed, they didn’t- they didn’t-

“-arm’s broken-”

Sean’s voice broke through the foggy haze of silence briefly before everything was silent again.

And then he was being lifted and his whole body screamed out in pain, and it was the red guy who’d attacked them, the teleporter, but Alex didn’t have to energy to struggle so he just closed his eyes and succumbed to the panic and pain washing over him. There was the smell of sulfur and his stomach lurched and then everything went black.

 

When Alex woke again, he spent a disorienting few minutes trying to figure out where he was until he saw Sean passed out in a chair next to his hospital bed. His arm was in a sling, but there were no other obvious injuries.

“Sean,” he croaked, and he was relieved to find that he could hear, though his ears were still ringing, his hearing had come back.

Sean jerked awake, very nearly falling off the chair, “Alex, you’re awake! Oh thank god, we were so worried.”

“How long?”

“You’ve been out for three days,” Sean said softly, “Your lung collapsed just as we arrived, we didn’t know if you were gonna make it til yesterday.”

“How did we get here?”

“Azazel brought us.”

“Azazel?”

“Oh right, scary red teleporter who was trying to kill us.”

“Why did he help us?”

“Not really sure, think it might have been Angel who convinced him to help.”

“Oh.”

“I’m gonna go find a nurse, and some water, you sound awful,” Sean said, getting to his feet.

Alex nodded, his throat was very dry and it hurt considerably to talk.

 

As the nurse checked Alex over, Sean slipped out of the room to call the mansion to let everyone know that Alex was awake. He spoke to Charles and Raven, Charles saying that he’d be down as soon as he could, and Raven asking how Alex was doing. Sean told her about the brief conversation they had and promised to keep her and everyone updated, Raven said she and Angel would be coming down to the hospital with Charles and that was the end of the call.

Sean hung up the phone and headed back to Alex’s hospital room.

“Can I ask what happened?” Alex asked, when Sean had returned, “I don’t really remember much, “After Erik threw us my memory’s kind of… fuzzy.”

“What do you remember?”

“Flashes of you and Hank and Raven, and I remember I couldn’t hear _anything_.”

Sean grimaced, “That was my fault, I am _so_  sorry.”

Alex shook his head, “It was necessary, it would have been much worse had you not got me off that ship.”

“I’m still really sorry,” Sean said, “The doctors said both your eardrums were ruptured.”

“So can you tell me what happened?”

“Right, right,” Sean took a deep breath, “After we got thrown, Erik went back to-” he made a gesture with his hand mimicking Erik controlling the missiles. Charles had said not to say anything that could give them away since it was all over the news.

Alex nodded, and Sean continued, “Anyways, Moira started shooting at him, trying to distract him, and well, we know what bullets are made of and he was flinging them away from himself and not paying attention to where they went, and one of them hit you in the chest.”

“Where’s Erik?”

Sean scowled, “At the mansion acting like nothing happened.”

“So he didn’t take off?”

“He wouldn’t have had anyone to take off with, Azazel, Janos, that’s the guy who does the whirlwind stuff, and Angel all came back to the mansion with us.”

Alex gave a small laugh, he was starting to feel lethargic and a little out of it from the painkillers the nurse had given him, “How’s that working out?”

“It’s- interesting,” Sean said, “It’s kind of tense but I’m not thinking Azazel and Janos are going to stick around.”

“They’re not being arrested?”

Sean shook his head, “Charles said since they’re like us he’s not going to turn them over.”

“That- that doesn’t- sound very smart,” Alex felt like he was about to fall asleep.

“It’s probably not,” Sean said, “You look like you’re about to pass out, get some sleep, me or Raven will be here when you wake up.”

Alex nodded, closing his eyes, and he was out like a light in a matter of moments.

 

Charles, Raven, and Angel arrived a little bit later, Alex was still asleep, and while Charles talked to the doctor, Raven and Angel joined Sean in Alex’s room.

“You said he woke up,” Raven asked, dropping onto the couch on the far side of the room.

Sean nodded, “For a little bit. Nurse gave him painkillers that knocked him out pretty fast so he wasn’t awake for long.”

“But he was lucid?” Angel asked.

“Yeah, he seemed pretty coherent, we talked for a bit.”

“Did he ask what happened?”

Sean nodded again.

“Did you tell him?” Raven again.

“What else was I supposed to do?”

“Fair enough.”

They lapsed into silence for a while after that, until Sean got to his feet. “I’m going to get food, do either of you want anything?”

Both Raven and Angel shook their heads. “We ate before we came,” Raven said.

Sean nodded and left the room. He wasn’t going to lie, he felt incredibly awkward around Angel. He wanted to like her, he wanted to _trust_  her, but her betrayal still stung like ice. Her betrayal had ended up costing Darwin his life, if she hadn’t turned her back on them Darwin might still be here. Sure she wasn’t the one who had actually _killed_  Darwin, but she wasn’t exactly free of guilt either. Sean kind of had a feeling that she knew that too.

When Sean returned to the room Angel was sitting outside on the floor, “Is he awake?”

Angel nodded, “I feel like agreeing to come was a bad idea.”

“Was it Raven’s idea?”

“It was.”

Sean nodded, “Feel kind of awkward talking to Alex?”

“It feels awkward talking to any of you.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

“No surprise there, I feel like I’m walking on eggshells. You know I didn’t think it would kill him, I thought he’d-”

“Adapt?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s part of me that wants to think it’s just taking a while.”

“You think that’s likely?”

“Who knows, Darwin did say that he didn’t know the full extent of his abilities.”

Angel winced, and Sean realized then that she’d been avoiding saying his name.

“I’m gonna head back to the mansion,” Sean said, “I need sleep. Do you know where Charles is?”

“I think he’s ‘talking’ to the doctors.”

“Right, ‘talking’. I’ll see you later then.”

When Sean left Angel slumped forward, burying her face in her hands. She should have known when she hadn’t seen Darwin on the beach that something was wrong. Darwin was supposed to have been able to adapt through that, it shouldn’t have killed him. He was supposed to be able to adapt through anything. He’d even told her about the time he’d tried to kill himself and hadn’t been able to cause his mutation had intervened. It _shouldn’t have killed him_. But it had and it was entirely her fault. Angel had never felt so horrible in her entire life.

 

Alex had to stay in the hospital for another two weeks for recovery maybe longer if his “fever” didn’t break. The doctors had taken Alex’s abnormally high body temperature as a sign that Alex had a fever, on top of his injury, and therefore could need to stay in the hospital for longer. Not that they could possibly know that it was normal for Alex as part of his mutation, but still  Alex was more than a little peeved to say the least, and Charles had tried his best to tweak the memories of the hospital staff, but the information was already down on paper and Charles could hardly be there every time they took Alex’s temperature. Charles assured Alex that he would deal with it when Alex’s two weeks of recovery time was up.

Raven and Sean came to see him as much as they could. Angel came a few more times, but she still felt more than a little uncomfortable around all of them, so most of the time she hung back. Moira had come to see Alex a few times as well, to make sure he was alright and to apologize for her part in him getting injured. Alex had forgiven her without hesitation as it hadn’t really been her fault at all, she couldn’t have possibly known how Erik would deflect the bullets she shot at him.

Erik on the other hand, had so far _not_  come to see Alex, and when Raven had asked him why he hadn’t his response was that he’d talk to Alex when Alex was back at the mansion. Which both Sean and Raven had found infuriating. Charles had taken Erik’s side and that had left both Raven and Sean feeling even angrier, and when they told Alex, it had, unsurprisingly, pissed him off too.

Out of all of them though the most openly hostile to Erik was Sean. He had taken to making Erik’s ears ring every time they were in the same room together, and as a result Erik and started avoiding him. Sean was aware that in all technicality it had been an accident, but it had been an accident that could have been so easily avoided if Erik hadn’t been so wrapped up in being a total dick, but accident or not Alex had almost died and Erik was at fault.

 

Sean was lying in his bed seething about this one night, well technically it was the early hours of the morning, when he was startled out of his thoughts by a banging at the front door. Sean groaned grabbing his pillow and putting it over his face. He gave up on that though when it became too stifling to breath, and instead just shut off his ears so he couldn’t hear anything. It was three am for Christ’s sake he wanted to go back to sleep, not get up and answer the door because someone thought three am was a good time for a visit. Eventually Sean did fall back asleep, if the person really wanted to talk to them they could come back tomorrow.

When Sean woke the next morning, it was reeling from yet another nightmare. He’d been having them even since Cuba happened. It took him a moment to realize why he was so out of it, he’d closed off his ears to not hear the banging the night before. He opened them again and sound flooded in. He was never doing that again. It may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but man was waking up to no sound disconcerting. Sean wondered if that was how Alex had felt on the beach. Alex. That had been what his latest nightmare had been about, Alex getting shot. He would be very relieved when Alex was allowed to come back from the hospital.

There was a knock on his bedroom door, “Sean you up?”

Raven. “Yeah, I’m up just give me a sec.” Sean yawned, and crawled out of bed, putting on the jeans and shirt he’d worn the day before, they weren’t that dirty and he didn’t want to put the effort into getting clean clothes out of his dresser, besides the particular shirt he’d worn yesterday was much easier to get on with a broken arm and dislocated shoulder than most of his other shirts.

“You want to get breakfast in town before we go see Alex?” Raven asked through the door.

“I don’t really care,” Sean said, slipping on his shoes before heading to open his door.

“Geez you look awful.”

“I didn’t sleep well,” Sean muttered.

Raven gave Sean a sympathetic look, “Nightmares?”

“You too?”

“I think everyone’s been having them.”

Sean sighed, “I need tea before we go anywhere.”

“I’ll get it, why don’t you go wash your face or something to try to get rid of the zombie look you’ve got going on.”

“Fine, just don’t put anything in my tea this time.”

“I won’t.”

Sean was headed to the nearest bathroom to wash his face when he heard the same knocking on the front door that he’d heard the night before, and he changed directions to go answer it.

Sean fumbled with the lock for a moment before he got it unlocked and yanked the door open, the words he’d been about to say dying in his throat when he saw the person on the other side of the door.

“Darwin.”

“Hey. I, uh,  realize I’m a bit late.”

Sean would have laughed, if he wasn’t already feeling like such a mess, and what came out of his mouth was more akin to a sob than anything else. “You’re alive. You’re _okay_.”

“Yeah, guess I can adapt to not having a body, who knew.”

Sean could feel tears welling up in his eyes and he tried to force them back.

Darwin took a step forward, “You okay Sean, you look-”

Sean shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut and he took a few steps back to let Darwin inside, “Everything is so fucked up.”

“Is this about- I saw in the news about Cuba, the paper said there was mutant involvement was that- was that you guys?”

Sean nodded, trying to futilely blink back tears, “It was awful, everything- everything went to shit. I mean yeah, we succeeded in stopping nuclear war but- but-” Sean took a shaky breath trying to continue, “The humans were gonna kill us. Even after we stopped it they were gonna kill us. And then Erik went batshit and wanted to kill them, and then Alex got _shot_  and- and-” He couldn’t continue, and it took every ounce of strength to not break down and start sobbing.

The first thing that ran through Darwin’s mind when Sean said that Alex had been shot was pure unadulterated panic. He tried to reign it in, Sean hadn’t said that Alex was dead just that he’d been shot, but it was hard and his mind was jumping to the worst possible conclusions.

“Sean I have your tea, are you ready to-” There was a sharp intake of breath as Raven saw Darwin followed by the clatter of a thermos hitting the ground, and the next thing Darwin knew Raven had launched herself at him pulling him into a tight hug.

“It’s good to see you too Raven,” he said, returning the embrace, “I’m sorry it took me so long to get back.”

“No, don’t you dare apologize, the fact that you’re back at all is a miracle,” Raven said, before letting go of Darwin and stepping back.

Sean in the meantime had taken the moment of distraction caused by Raven to compose himself again, and pick up the thermos of tea that Raven had dropped.

“Where is everyone?” Darwin asked, though the real question he wanted to know the answer to was where was Alex.

“Hank’s asleep in his lab I’m guessing,” Raven said, “He’s not in his room, but the door to his lab is locked and he’s not answering my knocking so I’m assuming he’s passed out. Charles and Erik went out for god knows what, Angel I think is running errands with Moira, they said they wouldn’t be back til late, and Assholes One and Two are somewhere, I can’t really bring myself to care.”

“I thought Charles and Erik were Assholes One and Two?” Sean said.

“Fine Assholes Three and Four then.”

“The red devil dude and the guy who makes hurricanes that tried to kill us are living here,” Sean said by way of explanation.

“It’s a long story, we’ll tell you in the car,” Raven said.

“In the car?”

“Yes, you’re coming with us to the hospital to see Alex.”

Darwin breathed out a sigh of relief at that, “Right.” So Alex was alright, seriously injured by the sound of it, but alive.

“Sean told you what happened?”

“Yeah, well just that Alex got shot.”

Raven sighed.

“Is this part of the long story you’re gonna tell me in the car?”

“Yes, yes it is. Do you have any stuff that you need to put away somewhere? Cause we can find you a room before we head out.”

Darwin shook his head, “All I’ve got is on me right now.”

Raven nodded.

“I think Alex might actually have your wallet,” Sean said, “I think he grabbed it before we left the compound.”

“That would be nice to have back,” Darwin said, “It was kind of hard getting up here without it.”

“We can ask him where it is when we get to the hospital,” Raven said,  “You ready to go Sean?”

“Don’t you think we should wake up Hank? I’m- I’m not thinking he’d like to be left hanging. I know I’d be peeved if I found out hours later than the rest of you guys.”

“True, but hurry up, the taxi’s probably gonna be here very soon.”

Sean nodded, headed off in the direction of Hank’s lab.

“So while he’s getting Hank, can I at least here the part of the story about what happened to Alex?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Raven said taking a deep breath, “So Erik killed Shaw as well all knew he would, except for Charles apparently, and that should have been the end of it. Shaw’s cronies stopped fighting after that. They didn’t even try to come after us after they saw Shaw was dead. Anyways, Erik comes out of the wreckage of the sub, that’s where he’d gotten to Shaw, and he was wearing that helmet that Shaw was wearing when he attacked the compound.”

Darwin nodded, he remembered that, “What does the helmet do, I mean why was Erik wearing it?”

“It blocks out telepaths, i.e. Charles.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, and he started speechifying about how humans were the real enemy, and well, he wasn’t wrong entirely because the American and Soviet forces were just about ready to blow up the beach regardless of the fact that we’d neutralized the situation.”

“Yeah, Sean- Sean mentioned that,” Darwin said.

“It was terrifying, because they did- they fired on us, but Erik stopped the missiles, except-” Raven paused to take another deep breath, “Except he fired them back at the ships. Charles basically tackled him, trying to get him to stop, but that didn’t work and just landed him with a broken nose.”

“Ouch.”

“It wasn’t even that bad Charles just whined about it a lot,” Raven said dismissively, “Anyways, Moira had the bright idea to fire a gun at Erik, not to kill but to distract, cause you know metal’s Erik’s thing. But Erik wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing and one of the deflected bullets hit Alex dead in the chest. And it might not have been as bad if his suit hadn’t had a giant gaping hole it in, but it was bad, it was _really_  bad, and he probably would have died had Azazel not teleported us to a hospital.”

“Jesus,” Darwin breathed, “But he’s all right?”

Raven nodded, “It was a near thing, his lung collapsed as we got to the hospital and for a few days we weren’t sure- but he pulled through, and now he’s complaining about having to be in the hospital for so long even though technically he should be staying longer. It was only with Charles’ 'persuasion' that it was bumped down to two weeks.”

“That doesn’t seem like the best idea,” Darwin said, “If he needs to be in the hospital he should stay in the hospital.”

Raven shook her head, “Issues have come up with his mutation so the soon he gets out of the hospital the better.”

“He runs hot,” Darwin said with a nod.

“He does, and it has all the doctors thinking he’s either sick or got an infection.”

There was a honking noise signalling that the taxi had arrived and Raven turned to look out the door which had been left open, she huffed, “Where is Sean?”

There was a sharp shriek from the basement, though it didn’t sound like anything had broken.

“I take it that mean’s he’s still trying to wake up Hank,” Darwin said.

Raven snorted, “Sounds like it, wait here I’m gonna go tell the taxi driver we’ll be just a bit.”

 

Down in front of Hank’s lab Sean was getting increasingly worried as Hank wasn’t responding to any of his banging and knocking on the lab door, which was, unfortunately locked. He didn’t want to scream. He didn’t want to scare Hank awake, and he didn’t want to break anything. After another minute of banging, Sean let out a careful screech. There was a clatter and bang from inside Hank’s lab, and a few moments later a bleary eye Hank was pulling the door open.

“Was that really necessary?” Hank muttered.

“Yes actually, it is,” Sean said, grabbing Hank’s hand and dragging him out of his lab.

“Sean I was sleeping.”

“We know, and you can go back to sleep after this,” Sean said, “In your bed though, not your lab.”

Hank let out a resigned sigh, “Fine, but this had better be important.”

“It is, trust me.”

Hank sighed, but he let Sean drag him up out of the basement.

Sean wanted to maybe try to warn Hank, to tell him that Darwin was back before Hank saw him, but he had a feeling Hank wouldn’t believe him until he saw Darwin with his own eyes. Sean knew that he wouldn’t have believed it right away if Raven or Hank had come to him telling him that Darwin was alive.

When they came into the front hall Hank stopped dead in his tracks.

“Hank?”

Hank blinked, gaping like a fish out of water, “I’m seeing things I have to be.”

“Only if I’m seeing things too,” Darwin replied, taking a few steps toward Hank, “Because correct me if I’m wrong, but you were not blue before.”

The nervous tension in the air evaporated and Hank let out a slow breath, “No- no I wasn’t. So it really is you- How did- How is that possible? We all saw you- Shaw-”

Hank seemed to realize that nothing more coherent was going to come out of his mouth so he stopped talking.

“Adapting to survive has its perks,” Darwin said, “I guess we’ve seen how far my mutation will stretch.”

“Or one extent of it at least,” Hank replied, “You truly have an amazing mutation.”

Darwin nodded, “I am very glad my mutation is what it is.”

“And we are too,” came Raven’s voice from the doorway.

“Are you going to see Alex?” Hank asked.

Raven nodded, “We’re heading out now. The taxi’s outside.”

“We didn’t want to leave until you’d seen Darwin,” Sean added.

“Thank you,” Hank said, stifling a yawn.

“Go sleep,” Sean said, elbowing Hank in the side gently with his uninjured arm, “You’re exhausted, we’ll see you when we get back.”

Hank nodded, yawning again. “I’m very glad you’re alive Darwin,” he said, before he headed up the stairs to his room. The exhaustion felt overwhelming since Sean had pointed it out.

 

With Hank having headed off to bed, Darwin, Sean, and Raven headed outside to where the taxi was waiting for them by the gate. The three of them piled into the taxi and soon they were headed down to the hospital.

“So do I get the rest of the story in the cab? Or for safety’s sake should we wait?” Darwin asked. He figured waiting might be best, a hospital room would provide slightly more privacy than a cab. No doubt the story would contain things best left unknown to the general public.

“Maybe we should wait,” Sean said, “I mean Moira did say we should keep quiet about it.”

Raven sighed, leaning back in her seat. It was obvious that that wasn’t what she wanted to do.

“There’ll be plenty of time to fill me in,” Darwin said, “And I’m sure that Alex won’t mind getting to throw his two cents in on the story.”

Raven sighed again, “That’s true. I just-” she huffed, “This isn’t exactly something I can rant about to just anyone, and well all of us were there.”

“And getting to explain it to me will be a weight of your chest.”

“I’m sorry you are probably going to become our therapist while this all gets explained to you.”

Darwin laughed, “I don’t mind. When you’re a cab driver, you get used to people talkin’ at you kinda like a therapist.”

Their driver made a noise that sounded like a stifled laugh.

Darwin grinned, “This guy knows what I’m talkin about.”

They all fell into easy conversation after that, Darwin shared some stories about his time driving cabs, and their cabbie would comment if he’d had a similar story. Raven talked in loose terms about becoming more comfortable with herself, and the ‘almost’ that had been her relationship with Hank. Sean spoke less, and talked more about Hank and what he was up to than he did about himself. Partially because some of the things he wanted to tell Darwin he couldn’t without outing them as mutants, and partially because he still felt like a bit too much of a mess to talk. So for most of the ride he just drank his tea and listened to Raven and Darwin talk. The thermos was empty by the time they reached the hospital.

Raven paid the driver and they got out.

Darwin was starting to feel nervous again, like he had when he’d first approached the mansion.

“You okay?” Raven asked as they walked in, making a beeline for the front desk so that they could check in.

Darwin nodded, taking a deep breath before speaking, “Just nervous, but no more nervous than I was coming up to the mansion.”

“I guess that’s not so bad then,” Raven said, “If it makes you feel any better I _know_  Alex will be happy to see you.”

“Just ‘happy’ might underestimating,” Sean said, and Darwin couldn’t help but agree with him.

“He blames himself for what happened,” Sean continued, “We tried to convince him it wasn’t his fault, but…”

“It didn’t work so well,” Darwin finished for him, and Sean nodded.

Darwin sighed, that had been the last thing he’d wanted, yet somehow he wasn’t that surprised by it.

While Sean and Darwin had been talking, Raven had gone ahead and gotten them all signed in and when she rejoined them, they followed her up the stairs to the floor Alex was on. Taking the stairs over the elevator had been an unspoken yet unanimous decision, and none of them would say it, but it was for stalling purposes. It wasn’t a particularly long hike up the stairs though, and soon the three of them were standing outside the door to Alex’s hospital room.

“Should one of us go in first?” Raven asked, the enormity of Darwin coming back was really starting to sink in.

Darwin nodded, “Yeah, that might be advisable. You and Sean go in ahead of me. I’ll follow you guys.”

Raven nodded, taking a deep breath before pushing the door open, “Alex you awake.”

“Of course I’m awake,” Alex groused, “They don’t let you sleep in hospitals remember. I’m not allowed to sleep more than fifteen minutes at a time.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t make very much sense,” Raven said, “Um, so-”

“We’ve brought someone else to see you,” Sean finished, following Raven into the room.

“Is it Erik?” Alex asked, “Cause I still need to punch him.”

“No, you’re going to have to wait til you’re home to punch him,” Sean said, “It’s, uh, well…” God, how were they supposed to do this. Something didn’t feel right just saying, ‘Hey guess what, Darwin’s not dead.’ He trailed off glancing out the door to where Darwin was standing just outside the doorway.

“Darwin’s alive,” Raven said. She either had fewer reservations about being blunt than Sean or was just less of a mess in general. Sean was always amazed by how put together Raven managed to seem, even when she had every right to be a wreck.

“Don’t joke around like that Raven.” Alex’s voice was tight and shaky, and there was a weight behind it that suggested he might cry if the matter was pushed further.

Darwin decided it was as good a time as any to enter, and he took a deep breath and stepped through the door. “She’s not joking Alex.”

Alex let out a choked gasp, feeling like all the air had been driven from his chest. “You-”

“Me,” Darwin said, taking a few steps towards Alex’s hospital bed.

“You dead- You _died_. We saw you die.”

Darwin shook his head. “Well I didn’t. Otherwise I wouldn’t be standing here.”

Alex swallowed heavily, clenching his jaw in a way that you could tell he was struggling to hold back tears. “I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t need to be,” Darwin replied, sitting down on the edge of Alex’s hospital bed. “Shaw was the one who tried to kill me, not you.”

“But-”

“No, Alex. Yes Shaw used your powers, but that’s the thing, he _used_  you. He used our lack of knowledge about the situation. You are not responsible for what he did with your powers.”

Alex shifted against the pillows and looked away from Darwin. “I don’t get it.”

Darwin’s brow furrowed. “What don’t you get?”

“I thought- I thought you’d be angry.”

“You thought I’d blame you for what happened.”

Alex didn’t nod, but when he squeezed his eyes shut, jaw clenching again, that was all the affirmative Darwin needed. He reached out and took Alex’s hand.

Alex flinched when he felt Darwin take his hand and he squeezed his eyes shut tighter, giving a quiet sob. That first sob opened the floodgate and Alex started crying and he couldn’t stop. He tried to bury his face into his pillow, but he wasn’t lying in a position that made that easy.

Darwin squeezed Alex’s hand gently and he was relieved when Alex gave a squeeze in return. “You gonna be okay?”

Alex just shook his head. He didn’t have a good answer to that. He didn’t feel like he was going to be okay. It made him feel so guilty to think that, Darwin was back and if that wasn’t a sign that things would get better what was? Still, Alex didn’t feel like anything was ever going to be okay again.

Darwin didn’t say anything, he just rubbed circled on the back of Alex’s hand with his thumb.

Sean spoke up then. “I’m- I’m going to leave. I’m not feeling so hot.”

“Alright,” Alex said softly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Sean nodded and slipped out of the room.

Raven followed Sean out. She wanted to make sure that Sean was okay, and she also figured that it might be easier for Alex and Armando to talk if they were left alone. “What’s going on Sean? You okay?”

Sean had sunk down on a bench just outside the room and he looked up at Raven when she spoke. “No. I feel sick, and I’m shaking. I- I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Everything seems to be wrong with me.”

“Do you think you’re actually getting sick? Or is it just stress?”

Sean got to his feet. “I really don’t know. What I do know is that I want to go back to the mansion and try to sleep it off.”

Raven nodded. “Want me to walk you out?”

“Sure.” Sean shrugged. “Why not.”

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Raven asked again, once they were outside of the hospital and waiting on a cab.

“I’m really not feeling well,” Sean murmured, “I just want to home and sleep.”

Raven gave Sean a sad smile, “Go home or go back to the mansion?”

Sean looked at Raven confused for a moment, before it dawned on him. “I don’t think I could go home, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. Yeah, I miss my mom and uncle but... “ he sighed, “There’s too much I wouldn’t be able to tell them, and it would kill me to not have anyone to talk to.”

“Well don’t not talk to us either,” Raven said gently.

“I won’t,” Sean promised, “I’m just- out of sorts today.”

Raven nodded. “We’ve all be out of sorts since Cuba, now go home and rest. We’ll see you tonight. Do you need money for the cab?”

Sean shook his head, “I’ve got it.”

“Alright, see you back at the mansion then.”

Sean nodded and Raven went back inside.

 

Raven didn’t head for Alex’s room immediately, giving Alex and Darwin the privacy to talk a little more just the two of them, before she rejoined them. Initially she headed into the food court to get something to eat, but then she changed her mind. The food just didn’t look appetizing. After several more minutes of what could only be called stalling, Raven headed back up to Alex’s hospital room.

“There you are, we’d wondered where you got to,” Darwin said when Raven entered the room.

Alex was looking a little better, Raven noted. His face was still red but he’d stopped crying. “I went to get something to eat but the food in the food court was not particularly appetizing.”

Alex groaned, “Don’t even get me started on the food.”

Darwin laughed a bit at that, “Is it really that bad?”

“It makes me miss prison food,” Alex deadpanned, “That at least, didn’t make me queasy.”

“Well you’ll be out of here soon,” Raven assured him.

“Please. If I have to hear someone tell me how I’m ‘remarkably coherent for as high a fever as I have’ one more time I swear I’m blowing something up.”

Raven smacked Alex’s shoulder gently, “Don’t do that.”

“You can imagine doing it though.” Darwin said.

Alex gave a small smile at that, “Definitely gonna imagine it.”

“Imagine doing what?” the nurse asked, entering the room.

Alex sighed, he didn’t want to deal with a nurse right now.

“Happy thoughts Alex,” Raven said.

“I will punch you.”  
“No you won’t,” the nurse said, “Now I need to take your temperature.”

“I can tell you with certainty that is has not gone down and it’s not going to.”

“Oh don’t be so pessimistic, your fever will go down eventually.”

Raven snorted, covering her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. Darwin was also trying hide his amusement at the situation (and was succeeding slightly better than Raven was).

Alex glowered at the nurse, but let her take his temperature.

“Well you’ve gone down one degree.”

“One degree, wow, I’m cured, does this mean I can leave early?”

“You still have a significant fever, so no, you have to stay for the full duration.”

“Four days Alex, that’s all you’ve got left,” Darwin said.

Alex groaned, but didn’t say anything else.

“Now is there anything I can get you?” the nurse asked, “Have you eaten yet?”

“No,” Alex grumbled. He’d been really hoping that she wouldn’t ask, because he really didn’t want to eat the hospital food.

“Should I bring you something?”  
“Is it going to make me nauseous again?”

The nurse gave Alex a pointed look, “You are sick, and you were shot. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again there are plenty of things right now that could be causing your nausea. Nausea can be a side effect of the painkillers you’re on.”

“Yet I’m only nauseous when I eat the hospital food.”

“Alex be nice, she’s just trying to help,” Raven said.

Alex sighed, “Fine, but I really don’t want to eat anything right now.”

The nurse nodded, “Alright, but if you do get hungry let someone know.”

“I will.”

“Good.” With that the nurse made a few notes on her clipboard and left the room.

“Okay so can I ask one of you guys to go out and get me food?”

Raven grinned, “I figured you were going to ask that. I will go out and get you food, what do you want?”

“Surprise me, I’m not picky.”

 

When Sean arrived back at the mansion he made a beeline for his bedroom. He wanted to lie down, though he didn’t want to fall asleep. Falling asleep meant nightmares, and he didn’t want to have to suffer through that more than he had to. He wondered if that was part of the reason Hank was working himself so ragged in his lab, the other part being the want to reverse what he’d done.

Sean paused in front of his room, staring at the door. Despite having left the hospital because he just couldn’t handle social interaction he didn’t exactly want to be alone either, so he turned away from his door and headed to Hank’s room instead. Sean knocked softly on Hank’s door, but there was no answer. Carefully and quietly, he pushed the door open. It wasn’t locked like Hank’s lab had been.

Hank was sprawled on his bed asleep, he hadn’t even bothered crawl under the covers. Sean hesitated for a moment before slipping into the room and shutting the door behind him, just as quietly as he’d opened it. There was another moment of hesitation before Sean climbed onto the bed next to Hank, curling up against his side. As far as Sean was concerned, blue furry Hank was the best for curling up against. He was soft and warm and he purred, which was incredibly comforting and relaxing. Hank shifted when Sean curled up against him, moving in his sleep to drape an arm over Sean’s waist. Sean’s breath hitched in his throat; his chest felt tight and his eyes were burning like he was going to cry. He burrowed a little closer to Hank, squeezing his eyes shut tight in an effort to keep tears from escaping. It worked to an extent, only a few small sobs and a few leaking tears escaped Sean’s effort to keep everything smothered. Eventually he managed to relax against the sounds of Hank’s breathing and rumbling purrs, and though he didn’t mean to, Sean fell asleep.

When Hank woke hours later, he nestled against the warmth of the body pressed against him, not really thinking about it until it dawned on him that there shouldn’t _be_  a body pressed against him. He tensed and his eyes snapped open. He relaxed almost immediately when he saw Sean’s familiar mop of ginger hair. Sean was still asleep and he appeared to be sleeping peacefully so Hank stayed still so he wouldn’t disturb him. Peaceful sleep was not something that should be taken for granted. His sleep had been so disturbed as of late and he imagined that Sean’s was too. Hank had gotten lucky and his sleep had been mostly untroubled this time around. He chalked it up to having been so exhausted. He’d been awake for almost 48 hours before Sean had pointed him in the direction of his bed.

Sean shifted against Hank burying his face in Hank’s fur. Hank was continually baffled by Sean and how comfortable he seemed around him. Hank felt so uncomfortable with himself it was hard to believe that someone else would be so comfortable with him, but Sean was, and Hank didn’t know how to tell Sean how much that meant to him.

Sean snuffled sleepily, blinking awake slowly. He was feeling a little better than he had earlier, the extra hours of nightmareless sleep had definitely helped. The overwhelming feeling of misery hadn’t quite abated, but it felt more manageable now. Sean closed his eyes again briefly, savoring the feeling of being curled up safe and warm with someone. He should get up soon, slip away before Hank woke up. Crawling into bed with Hank unannounced probably hadn’t been his brightest idea. He pulled back slowly, carefully, doing his utmost to ensure that he didn’t disturb Hank.

Hank couldn’t help the wave of disappointment that ran through him Sean started to pull away. He should have figured Sean would leave when he woke up. “You don’t have to go,” Hank said softly.

Sean tensed at having been caught, freezing where he was on the edge of the bed, “Did I wake you?”

Hank shook his head, pushing himself into a sitting position, “I was already awake.”

“Oh.”

“Are you guys back already?”

Sean shrugged, “I don’t know. I left the hospital early. So Raven and Darwin might still be down there.”

“So Darwin really is back? That’s not-” Hank let out a deep breath, part of him had been worried that Darwin’s return had been some kind of hallucination or dream caused by lack of sleep.

“Yeah he’s back, he’s- you should have seen Alex. He was a wreck. Darwin took his hand, and he just started sobbing.”

“He felt responsible for Darwin’s death.”

Sean nodded, “That was the first conversation they had, Darwin assuring Alex that it wasn’t his fault.”

“That’s good,” Hank said, “Why didn’t you stay?”

“I wasn’t feeling well.”

“Are you feeling better?”

Sean shrugged, rubbing at his injured shoulder, “A little I guess. I just- I don’t know, I feel sad and numb and like I’m always on the verge of tears. Sleeping helps because I’m not awake and don’t have to deal with all that, but then sleep brings nightmares so...” he trailed off with a sigh. “I never thought it would be like this. This was not at all what I had in mind when Charles and Erik said we’d be ‘working with the CIA’. I never would have gone with them if I knew it would be this.”

“So are you going to leave?” Hank asked, “Once things have settled down I mean.” The thought made Hank’s stomach turn to knots, he didn’t want Sean to leave. He didn’t want to lose one of the few friends he had.

Sean shook his head, and Hank let out an audible sigh of relief, “Raven asked me that too, but I don’t think I could handle being alone with myself after everything. Being around you guys is the only thing keeping me sane right now. If I was alone- if I was alone I don’t even think I could bring myself to get out of bed.”

“What about your parents?”

“Neither my mom or my uncle know that I’m a mutant, talking to them wouldn’t be an option. No one back home knew I was a mutant.”

“Right,” Hank dropped his gaze to his hands. He’d never had the luxury of being able to hide his mutation from his parents. His feet had set him apart the moment he was born.

“I mean I’m sure my mom is going to expect me to come home at some point, but…” Sean shrugged, “I’d rather be here with you guys. And if Charles sets up a school here like he said he was going to, then that’ll be even better cause I won’t have to back to that miserable private school I was at before.”

“Why is your mom having you educated in the States? Why not send you to school in Ireland?”

Sean snorted. “I’m in exile. Kind of. I got caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to and got shipped off to school overseas.”

“That seems…”

“The opposite of what you’d expect? Yeah, that was my thought too. Have me educated at home to keep an eye on me. Instead of sending me to the States where I could get in more trouble.”

“What did Charles tell her you were doing?”

“I think he told her he was recruiting for a special school or something,” Sean said with a shrug, “I didn’t really pay attention to what he was saying. I was still reeling from the ‘there are other mutants’ part.”

“He didn’t tell her about the CIA stuff?” Hank asked.

“I think he did, but when I was younger I made noises about wanting to go into law enforcement. My dream job when I was ten was to be an Interpol agent. She probably thought it was something to do with that.”

Hank nodded, “I guess that makes sense.”

“Do you regret going with them?”

“I- well I didn’t really have much of a choice. I worked under the guy that was put in charge of organizing everything. So I was already there.”

“Yeah, but you could have said no. You could have said that you didn’t want to be a part of it.”

“Yeah, but Charles kind of, outed me in front of everyone. I probably would have wound up losing my place there even if I hadn’t gone with Charles.”

Sean frowned, “Why would he do that?”

“He didn’t know I was keeping it a secret.”

“Bullshit,” Sean said, “If he was fishing around in your mind to find out you were a mutant, he should have been able to see that you were hiding it.”

“He can’t always filter out what he hears,” Hank muttered.

“Well yeah, sure, but he’s also had his powers for a really long time and- you know what I don’t want to talk about this.”

“You don’t have to stay, I just, I didn’t want you to feel like you had to leave,” Hank said quietly.

“What? No I didn’t mean I wanted to stop talking to _you_  I just don’t want to talk about Charles.”

“Oh.”

Sean frowned, “Why do you think no one wants to be around you anymore? Ever since you changed, you’ve avoided everyone. Locking yourself in your lab, making excuses to not be seen.”

Hank sighed, “Sean, I don’t even want to be around me, I mean look at me.”

“And?”

“I-” Hank frowned, brow knitted in confusion, “Does it really not bother you?”

Sean shook his head, “Why should your appearance bother me?”

“Cause- Cause I look like a freak.”

“And the rest of us aren’t freaks?”

“It’s not the same, Sean, the rest of you can-”

“What? Hide? Azazel can’t. He always looks like that. And I’m sure there are other mutants with physical mutations.”

Hank gave a dejected sigh, “I just want to look normal again, to look like I did. I wish I’d never tried to make a cure in the first place.”

Sean shifted on the bed, moving closer to Hank, and tugging him into an awkward one armed hug.

“I don’t want to be like this, Sean,” Hank said, returning the hug.

“Is that why you spend so much time locked up in your lab? Trying to find a way to undo what you did?”

Hank nodded miserably against Sean’s shoulder.

“Maybe you should take a break. A few days, a week maybe. We’re all stressed, on edge. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Give yourself time to recover from what we just went through instead of trying to bury yourself in work.”

“But the sooner I-”

“No,” Sean cut Hank off, “You need the breathe and take a step back. You haven’t even fully cleaned up your lab from when you trashed it before.”

Hank sighed, “I’ll take a break. Til Alex gets back.”

“Good, and that means no locking yourself in your room either. You have to be social.” Sean felt a little hypocritical saying that since often times Raven had to bodily drag him out of _his_  room, but well, he had come to find being with someone else was often a better alternative to being alone.

Hank nodded, straightening up from the hug, “I can do that.”

Sean gave a small smile, “Good.” He leaned in to give Hank another quick hug, before pulling back and climbing off the bed. He grabbed Hank’s hand to pull him up as well, “The first order of business, now that you are out of your self imposed exile, is to show you what Raven and I have done to the TV room.”

“What did you do?” Hank asked, mildly concerned. Though he was feeling a little better, and it appeared that Sean was too.

“We used the couch to make a fort,” Sean said, readjusting his sling, “It’s really nice. It’s full of cushions stolen from other couches around the house, and there’s a bunch of blankets too. We tugged the TV forward so it’s in the fort, and Raven found some old board games.”

Hank cracked a smile at that. It did sound very nice. He climbed off the bed, to follow after Sean, “That does sound nice.”

“Yup, that’s where Raven and I spend most of our time when we aren’t at the hospital.”

“What’s been going on?” Hank asked. He felt a little sheepish having to ask what was going on in the house that he lived in, but he really had been, like Sean had said, in ‘self imposed exile’.

“I don’t even know,” Sean said, pushing open the door and stepping out into the hall, “You really aren’t that out of the loop. Charles and Erik have been doing something. Moira’s trying to tie up loose ends with the CIA so that we won’t be bothered, but she can’t give us any more details than that until things are finalized. Angel has been spending a lot of time with her outside of that. Azazel and Janos kind of just, do their own thing, and I’m not sure what that is. I mean, I see them every once and while, but not often.”

Hank nodded, “I would imagine they’re unsure of how to approach us. I mean they did terrorize us and try to kill us.”

“True,” Sean said, his posture drooping, “I’m kind of glad they don’t approach us. I feel uncomfortable enough with them living here.”

Hank nodded. “So the couch fort?” he prompted, he could see Sean starting to curl in on himself again and he wanted to avoid that if at all possible.

“Couch fort,” Sean repeated, taking a deep breath, “Yeah, let’s go.”

Angel and Moira got back to the house before Raven and Darwin did, and upon their return, Angel slipped upstairs to the couch fort. She was a little surprised to find Hank and Sean already there, but she didn’t comment on her surprise and just let Sean tug her down to join them curled up on the cushions spread out on the floor.

Angel felt so nervous around everyone, part of her couldn’t figure out why they could forgive her and trust her after what she did. She knew they were all to some extent, angry and upset with her, but she’d expected them to shun her like they did with Azazel and Janos. Eventually, quietly, she voiced this to Sean and Hank.

“We all fucked up,” Sean replied, “We trusted people we shouldn’t have and it got us all fucked up. We shouldn’t have trusted Charles, or Erik, or Shaw, at least not as blindly as we did. We trusted them because they were mutants and older than us. Now look at us, curled in a blanket fort because we’re all traumatized messes who have no idea how to cope with what we’ve just been through.”

Angel sighed, “At least you guys picked the right side.”

“Was it the right side though?” Hank said, “I mean you saw what happened on the beach after Erik killed Shaw, he was ready to take up Shaw’s banner right there, and if Alex hadn’t ended up getting shot… who knows what would have happened.”

“I guess that’s true,” Angel murmured, “That doesn’t mean I didn’t fuck up in a truly spectacular way. I tried to kill you Sean.”

“You did and I have a broken arm and Alex fried your wing. We both have an injured appendage I’d call that as even as it’s going to get.”

Angel sat upright, “Sean that’s- how can you be so casual about it.”

“I don’t have the energy to be mad, just existing takes all the energy I’ve got right now.”

Angel stared at him. “Will you be mad at me when you have more energy?”

“Do you want me to be mad at you?”

“I- well I don’t _want_  you to be, but you _should_  be.”

Sean sighed, “Maybe later.”

Angel let out a choked bark of laughter and slumped against the cushions again.

Sean leaned over Hank so he could try to pull Angel closer again, but he really couldn’t manage it with only one arm so he just lay down where he was, draped over Hank. “Darwin came back,” Sean said softly. He couldn’t really think of a better way to break the news without Angel seeing Darwin for herself.

Angel’s eyes snapped open, “What? Sean don’t joke.”

“I’m not,” Sean said, “He appeared at the door this morning as Raven and I were on our way to see Alex. No one else was home save Hank. He came to the hospital with us to see Alex. He and Raven are still there, I came home early cause I wasn’t feeling well.”

Angel let out a shuddering breath, letting her eyes slip shut again, “You’re really serious? You’re not- you’re not making it up?”

“I swear,” Sean said, “I wouldn’t make up something like that. Hank saw him too.”

Hank nodded, “It was him.”

“Do Charles and Erik know?” Angel asked.

“As far as I know, no,” Sean said, “They’re still out. Well, unless they came back while Hank and I were asleep.”

“And Darwin will be coming back here?”

Sean nodded, “Yeah.”

“Does he know- Does he know I’m here?”

Sean nodded again.

Angel let out a long breath, the question, ‘is he mad at me’ sitting at the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t voice it. “I’m assuming they’ll be back late then? After visiting hours are over?”

“Probably,” Sean said. They tended to stay as late as possible when visiting Alex, and he didn’t think today would be an exception to that.

“How’s Alex doing?” Angel asked.

“Alright. He’s getting antsy to leave the hospital,” Sean said.

“That’s good. I mean, it means he’s well enough to be pissed about being stuck in the hospital.”

“Yeah,” Sean agreed, “I think everyone’ll feel a lot better once Alex is out of the hospital.”

Angel nodded. “How did he take seeing Darwin?”

“Pretty well given everything,” Sean said. “He cried, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

 

Four days later, Alex was home. He still had to be careful, but he was home and that was what mattered. Darwin had slid back into their group seamlessly and it was such a relief to have him back. Angel had been hesitant towards him at first, but like he’d done with Alex, Darwin assured her that he did not blame her. Things were starting to gradually inching back towards some semblance of normal. They were coping as best they could, but they had each other and that made all the difference.

 

Alex was lying in the fort, he was hungry, but didn’t want to get up, because well, moving around still kind of hurt. He heard footsteps and he tilted his head to see if anyone was going to enter the fort.

It was Darwin.

“How you feeling, hotshot?”

“Still hurt but there’s nothing I can do about that.”

Darwin nodding, sitting down next to Alex.

“You talk to Angel?” Alex asked.

“I did, you know she took the whole it’s not your fault thing a little better than you.”  
Alex gave a dry laugh. “She was less directly involved.”

“I think she’d say otherwise, but you know Alex, accepting that I don’t blame you isn’t the same thing as feeling guilty.”

Alex raised an eyebrow.

“You’re allowed to feel guilty,” Darwin said. “Me saying I don’t blame you for what happened isn’t going to make those feelings go away. You can feel bad about your mutation being used _by someone else_ to hurt me. But please, believe me when I say that I do not blame you for what happened.”

This was a talk they’d almost had in the hospital that very first day. They’d started to have it, but Alex had been too much of a wreck just from finding out Darwin was back, and it hadn’t come up again between them.

Alex let out a long breath. “All right, I can do that. I don’t think- It’s gonna take me a while-”

“Take all the time you need Alex,” Darwin said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Hesitantly, Alex reached out, seeking Darwin’s hand. He almost pulled back, but Darwin saw what Alex was doing and met Alex halfway. The touch felt… not electric, but intense. It make Alex feel warm and Alex wasn’t sure what he was supposed to make of that. He supposed, if Darwin was sticking around, he’d have time to figure it out.


End file.
